MINNEAPOLIS — The City of Minneapolis and the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis will soon head into contract negotiations.
Ahead of talks, Mayor Jacob Frey and Ward 4 council member LaTrisha Vetaw held a press briefing Friday saying they want to be as transparent as possible about the process but can't discuss specific strategies or dollar amounts.
Rather, they outlined three primary issues they plan to include in the two-year contract. Those are recruitment and retention, officer mental health and accountability. The mayor and council member said these items are based on several listening sessions held last summer with the community as well as online feedback.
They also explained what they believe should not be included.
"I have charged our staff and other council members to really take this as an opportunity to explain to people what should be done in the contract and what should just be under the chief's leadership when it comes to discipline," Vetaw said.
"We want the police chief to be able to decide unilaterally … what's in the disciplinary matrix," Frey added. "If we were to put it into the contract then we're suddenly opening something to a negotiation that doesn't need to be negotiated. That's handing over leverage. It's handing over authority."
KARE 11 reached out to the police union for a response and is waiting to hear back.
Negotiations begin on Wednesday, Sept. 6 in Room 100 of the Public Service Building from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The session will be open to the public. City leaders said it's too soon to know if any following talks would be made public as well. The city has published a webpage to follow developments.
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